{"id":13,"date":"2016-11-19T15:17:48","date_gmt":"2016-11-19T15:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourtravelescapades.com\/?page_id=13"},"modified":"2017-04-23T16:48:37","modified_gmt":"2017-04-23T21:48:37","slug":"australia-newzealand-may-2016","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ourtravelescapades.com\/index.php\/destinations\/australia-newzealand-may-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\/New Zealand – May 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

May 7, 2016 – Arrival into Sydney, Australia<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Arrived at the airport around 7am and took public transportation to the Zing Hostel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The temperature was in the mid 70s F.<\/p>\n

We walked around the city to see some sights. \u00a0There was some fires outside of the city so it was pretty smokey. \u00a0We later found out that they were doing a controlled burn off to avoid forest fires.<\/p>\n

Sights that we saw: Mrs. Macquaries Point,\u00a0Sydney Opera House,\u00a0Botanical Gardens,\u00a0The Warf, and the\u00a0Sydney Harbour Bridge.<\/p>\n

Sydney Harbour Bridge<\/p>\n

\"Sydney<\/p>\n

Sydney Opera House<\/p>\n

\"Sydney<\/p>\n

Cool tree in the Botanical Gardens<\/p>\n

\"Sydney<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May 8, 2016 – Blue Mountain Tour<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We took a Blue Mountain Tour form Sydney that included the following: Olympic Park, a River Stop, Scenic World, Leura Village and their lookout, Wentworth Falls, Kings Table Land (Lincoln), and a river cruise at night back into the city.<\/p>\n

The temperature was about 70 F and there was a little rain.<\/p>\n

Note that it is not fog in the images below, but smoke from the controlled burn off that they were doing to avoid wild fires.<\/p>\n

The Three Sisters on the left of the first image.<\/p>\n

\"Blue<\/p>\n

\"Blue<\/p>\n

\"Blue<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

May 9, 2019 – Travel to\u00a0New Zealand<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We flew from Sydney to Queenstown, where we picked up our champ of a rental car and drove to Wanaka-Lake Hawea. \u00a0It was a beautiful drive with tons of mountains.<\/p>\n

We stayed in Wanaka at the Lake Hawea Hostel<\/a>. \u00a0A nice little hostel behind the Hotel. \u00a0The bathrooms are in a different building which was a little inconvenient, but not a big deal for 1 night.<\/p>\n

The temperature was about 60 F and there was a little rain.<\/p>\n

Drive from Queenstown to Wanaka.<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

Sunrise at Lake Hawea.<\/p>\n

\"Lake<\/p>\n

\"Lake<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May 10, 2016 – Drive from Wanaka to Franz Josef<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We wanted to go to the Rob Roy Trail to do a 4 hour hike, but it started raining as we got to the road that goes out there. \u00a0We decided to give the road a try. \u00a0It was a super narrow dirt road and we ended up fording a ton of water in our small little rental car. \u00a0Of course, there is no way to turn around so we had to go the whole way out there before we could turn around and come back. \u00a0The roads were getting really bad so it was not safe to stay out there.<\/p>\n

Drive from Wanaka to the Rob Roy Trail.<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

On our drive we saw a rancher herding cow and deer with a helicopter.<\/p>\n

We then drove up to the Fox Glacier Trail for a walk our to view the glacier.<\/p>\n

Drive from Rob Roy Trail to Fox Glacier.<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

Fox Glacier Trail<\/p>\n

\"Fox<\/p>\n

\"Fox<\/p>\n

\"Fox<\/p>\n

The drive up to Franz Joseph was through the mountains and gave us a beautiful view of the ocean.<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

We stayed in Sir Cedrics\u00a0Glow Worm Flashpacker Hostel<\/a>. \u00a0It is\u00a0a nice place. \u00a0We had an ensuite bathroom and kitchenette. \u00a0They had a shared kitchen and free home made soup for dinner.<\/p>\n

The temperature was about 60 F and there was rain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May 11, 2016 – Drive Franz Joseph to Punakaiki<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We drove out to Franz Joseph Glacier, but the rain was way to heavy to make the hike out and be able to see the glacier. \u00a0We were really glad that we decided to stop at the Fox Glacier the previous day or we would not have been able to see a glacier.<\/p>\n

We made a stop at Ross to look at the Gold Mining area. \u00a0It was not all that thrilling.<\/p>\n

We continued on and stopped and the Pancake Rocks (Punakaiki). \u00a0Which\u00a0is a really cool site.<\/p>\n

\"Punakaiki<\/p>\n

\"Punakaiki<\/p>\n

\"Punakaiki<\/p>\n

\"Punakaiki<\/p>\n

\"Punakaiki<\/p>\n

We then drove out to Te Nikau Retreat<\/a> where we were staying that night. \u00a0This place is awesome! \u00a0It’s in a really wooded area close the a small beach and has a shared kitchen and recreation area and ensuite bath.<\/p>\n

We took a little walk in the woods towards the beach.<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

The temperature was about 60 F and there was heavy rain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May 12, 2016 – Drive Punakaiki – Karamea – Picton<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We drove for 2.5 hours on crazy curvy\u00a0roads up the mountain to Karamena to see the Opapara Basin. \u00a0 When we got up there we had to drive 14 km on some scary dirt roads to get to the basin, but it was WORTH IT. \u00a0The Opapara basin was beautiful. \u00a0The water is red from the clay.<\/p>\n

Opapara Basin<\/p>\n

\"Opapara<\/p>\n

\"Opapara<\/p>\n

\"Opapara<\/p>\n

Then we drove back down the mountain for a 5 hour drive to Picton; where we spent the night and planned to catch the ferry to the north island the next day.<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

We stayed at the Picton Yacht Club<\/a> which is probably the nicest place that we have ever stayed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May 13, 2016 – Travel to North Island and on to Ohakune<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We took the Ferry from Picton to Wellington. \u00a0Our incredibly inexpensive rental car came with tickets for the ferry for the car and two people. \u00a0It was awesome.<\/p>\n

View of Picton from the Ferry.<\/p>\n

\"Picton\"<\/p>\n

Once on the north island we drove straight up to Ohakune.<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

We stayed at the Hobbit Motor Lodge<\/a>. \u00a0Which was really nice. \u00a0They gave us an upgrade as they were doing some maintenance.<\/p>\n

\"Hobbit<\/p>\n

The temperature was about 60 F and there was a little rain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May 14, 2016 – Ohakune to Rotorua<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This morning we did three walks in the Ohakune area.<\/p>\n

Rimu Walk &\u00a0Mangawhero Forest Walk – these walks run together.<\/h3>\n

\"Rimu<\/p>\n

\"Rimu<\/p>\n

\"Rimu<\/p>\n

Waitong Falls Walk<\/h3>\n

\"Waitong<\/p>\n

\"Waitong<\/p>\n

\"Waitong<\/p>\n

\"Waitong<\/p>\n

\"Waitong<\/p>\n

We then drove up to Rotorua, stopping at the Thermo Mud Pools (Te Puia) and took a walk around Rotorua city center.<\/p>\n

Drive to Rotorua<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

\"Drive<\/p>\n

In Rotorua we stayed at The Backyard Inn<\/a>. \u00a0A decent place within walking distance of the city center.<\/p>\n

The temperature was about 60 F and partly cloudy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May 15, 2016 – Rotorua<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Te Puia Geothermal Site<\/h3>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

\"mud<\/p>\n

\"mud<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

Kuirau Park<\/h3>\n

This is a small public geothermal park just outside of downtown Rotorua that we visited a couple of times.<\/p>\n

Mamaku Blue – Blueberry Experience<\/h3>\n

Ruth had to visit this joint and try some of their homemade blueberry ice cream.<\/p>\n

Government Garden<\/h3>\n

\"Government<\/p>\n

\"Government<\/p>\n

\"Government<\/p>\n

\"Government<\/p>\n

The temperature was about 62 F and partly cloudy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May 16, 2016 – Rotorua<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Wai-O-Tapu – Thermal Wonderland<\/h3>\n

\"Wai<\/p>\n

\"Wai<\/p>\n

\"Wai<\/p>\n

\"Wai<\/p>\n

\"Wai<\/p>\n

\"Wai<\/p>\n

The candy they sell in their gift shop. \u00a0Look at the names. \u00a0Would you eat them?<\/p>\n

\"Wai<\/p>\n

Rainbow Mountain Scenic Reserve Crater Walk<\/h3>\n

\"Rainbow<\/p>\n

\"Rainbow<\/p>\n

Whakarewarewa Forest – Redwoods walk<\/h3>\n

\"Redwoods<\/p>\n

\"Redwoods<\/p>\n

\"Redwoods<\/p>\n

The temperature was about 62 F and partly cloudy with a little rain.<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

May 17, 2016 – Rotorua<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hobbiton Movie St (Matamata)<\/h3>\n

We took the tour of the family farm where the movies where filmed. \u00a0It was a bit expensive but worth it.<\/p>\n

We stopped at the Green Dragon Inn, where a cup of mead or cider was included in the tour price.<\/p>\n

\"Hobbiton<\/p>\n

\"Hobbiton<\/p>\n

\"Hobbiton<\/p>\n

\"Hobbiton<\/p>\n

\"Hobbiton<\/p>\n

Wairere Falls<\/h3>\n

On our way back towards Rotorua, we decided to make a stop at these falls. \u00a0I was a very pretty walk that\u00a0was all uphill and took about 45 minutes. \u00a0It was a\u00a0relatively steep trail for most of it.<\/p>\n

\"Wairere<\/p>\n

\"Wairere<\/p>\n

\"Wairere<\/p>\n

Te Waihou Blue Springs Walkway<\/h3>\n

Our next stop on the way back was this walkway. \u00a0The water was so clear that you could see the bottom of the springs.<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

The temperature was about 65 F and partly cloudy with a little rain on and off.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May 18, 2016 – Rotorua<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The temperature was about 55 F and it was pretty rainy.<\/p>\n

We decided to take a lazy day and stayed in bed reading all morning. \u00a0In the afternoon, we went out to lunch and visited the\u00a0Rotorua Museum.<\/p>\n

The museum houses this sculpture titled Two Friends<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Rotorua<\/p>\n

This is the view from the museum roof.<\/p>\n

\"Rotorua<\/p>\n

The museum used to be a mud spa. \u00a0 In the basement, they have this replica of man in a mud bath. \u00a0We are not sure why he has that ridiculous face, but we found it hilarious.<\/p>\n

\"Rotorua.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May 19, 2016 – Rotorua<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We spent the day seeing sights right in or near rotorua.<\/p>\n

We had lunch at Che Chorizo. \u00a0They had really good paella, empanadas and homemade churros.<\/p>\n

Green & Blue Lakes Lookout<\/h3>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

Kawerau<\/h3>\n

We wanted to see the Tarawera Falls. \u00a0Unfortunately, it was on private property and and we needed a permit to access it. \u00a0So we were unable to see the falls. \u00a0BUMMER!<\/p>\n

Okere Falls Track<\/h3>\n

\"Okere<\/p>\n

\"Okere<\/p>\n

Rotorua Night Market<\/h3>\n

We visited the night market in Rotorua. \u00a0It was a few blocks of street blocked off for different types of vendors.<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

May 20, 2016 – Hamilton<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On our drive from Rotorua to Hamilton, we stopped to visit the Waitomo Cave and the Rurakuri Cave. \u00a0Both of which house glow worms. \u00a0Unfortunately, none of the glow worm pictures turned out.<\/p>\n

Waitomo Cave<\/h3>\n

Photography was not allowed in this cave. \u00a0At the end of this tour they load you up in a boat and the tour guide pulls the boat along with a rope in the ceiling to get you out the other end. Unfortunately, the boat was not big enough for all of us so we had to wait for the next one which caused us to miss our next tour so we had to do a little rescheduling.<\/p>\n

Rurakuri Cave<\/h3>\n

\"Rurakuri<\/p>\n

\"Rurakuri<\/p>\n

We stayed in Hamilton at the Eagles Nest Backpackers hostel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We saw a street sign a couple of times today that read “Other people make mistakes, Slow Down.” \u00a0Too funny.<\/p>\n

May 21, 2016 – Keri Keri<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We drove from Hamilton to Keri Keri and made a stop at the Trounson Kauri Park. \u00a0When you enter the park, you have to hose your shoes off to not contaminate the park.<\/p>\n

Trounson Kauri Park<\/h3>\n

\"Trounson<\/p>\n

\"Trounson<\/p>\n

We stayed at the\u00a0Woodlands Motel<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0This place is great. \u00a0We did not have a private bath, but we really liked the location.<\/p>\n

It was a beautiful sunny say in the mid 60s F.<\/p>\n

May 22, 2016 – Auckland<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We left Keri Keri and headed toward Auckland stopping at a number of places along the way.<\/p>\n

Haruru Falls<\/h3>\n

\"Haruru<\/h3>\n

Bay of Islands (Paihia)<\/h3>\n

\"Bay<\/p>\n

KawaKawa<\/h3>\n

We headed to Kawakawa because when a guide book recommends a public toilet, you HAVE to check it out. \u00a0To our surprise, they has a small community festival going on.<\/p>\n

Hundertwasser Public Toilets<\/h4>\n

\"Hundertwasser<\/p>\n

\"Hundertwasser<\/p>\n

\"Hundertwasser<\/p>\n

Puff And Pull Festival<\/h4>\n

Yes, people are pulling a train car.<\/p>\n

\"Puff<\/p>\n

Whangarei Falls<\/h3>\n

\"Whangarei<\/p>\n

Rainbow<\/h3>\n

A beautiful rainbow was seen on the drive.<\/p>\n

\"Rainbow\"<\/p>\n

\"Rainbow<\/p>\n

Mount Victoria Summit<\/h3>\n

\"Mount<\/p>\n

\"Mount<\/p>\n

Short walk in Auckland<\/h3>\n

We walked down to the Warf. \u00a0This neat looking building was still under construction on the interior.<\/p>\n

\"Auckland<\/p>\n

We stayed at the\u00a0Jucy Snooze<\/a> Hostel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May 23, 2016 – Auckland – Head Home<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On our last day in New Zealand, we decided to take a walk in the rain up to the Auckland Domain where we some some interesting plants.<\/p>\n

\"Auckland<\/p>\n

\"Auckland<\/p>\n

\"Auckland<\/p>\n

\"Auckland<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We then started our drive toward the airport but had time to kill so we stopped at The Warehouse (the Walmart of NZ). \u00a0Here we picked up some snacks for our plane ride back.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We ended up driving 3501 KMs while on this trip. \u00a0Our rental car held up well even when fording water<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  May 7, 2016 – Arrival into Sydney, Australia Arrived at the airport around 7am and took public transportation to the Zing Hostel. The temperature was in the mid 70s F. We walked around the city to see some sights. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/page_fullwidth.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtravelescapades.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtravelescapades.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtravelescapades.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtravelescapades.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtravelescapades.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":76,"href":"https:\/\/ourtravelescapades.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":829,"href":"https:\/\/ourtravelescapades.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13\/revisions\/829"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtravelescapades.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtravelescapades.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}